The Griffin or the Agate

As readers of my previous reviews may have noted, I tend to have fairly strong opinions of the books I read. Sometimes I like them, sometimes I don't, but rarely am I wishy-washy. Storm Constantine's The Way of Light is therefore presenting me with quite a dilemma. The writing is, if not exceptional, at least very good; the plot elements are interesting; the pacing is good; and the characters are both likable and destetable as appropriate, with enough of each to make them realistic. Yet somehow, all this wasn't quite enough for me to love this book.
     In this third book of Magravandias, the Emporer has recently passed away (possibly helped along by his not-so-loving wife, Tatrini) and the plot focuses on who is fit to replace him. Standard succession calls for his oldest son Gastern, a religious zealot, to take the throne; but there are of course factions with other plans. There are a plethora of younger brothers, two of whom are backed by their mother -the aforementioned Tatrini who is, among other things, a witch of not inconsiderable power and who attempts to use certain magics to promote her choices to the throne. She plays the two sons she favors against each other, so successfully that it ends up being to the detriment of her plot to place one of them on the throne.
     The other main faction wants to replace the current ruling family with Valraven Palindrake, Dragon Lord of the Splendifers (read: head of the army) who is, incidentally, married to one of the dead Emporer's daughters, Variencienne. The group that wants to place Palindrake on the throne splinters, with one party taking direct action and kidnapping Variencienne and her daughter on their way from the capital, holding them hostage and forcing Valraven's hand. However (and this is where the book gets a little too complicated for its own good), Valraven and his wife are really Just Good Friends, so this does not fire up the passionate rescue that the kidnappers desire, though he does make a rather perfunctory effort to find her that we don't hear much about. Additionally, one of the kidnappers is a man that was previously both her husband's best friend and thought dead (Khaster), and who she developed a crush on when she saw his painting, all of which led to an affair with his brother (Merlan). He's now inhabited by the spirit of a great mage (Taropat), but looks the same as both his painting and his brother.
     In the meantime, Palindrake's son (also named Valraven) has come under the influence of Tatrini but is being trained in secret by Tayven, the unwilling participant in Tatrini's schemes and former lover of Khaster. This training results in the unlikely 'twist' ending to which Constantine refers in her acknowledgments. This disjointed ending feels forced, sudden, and out of place with the pacing of the rest of the novel, almost as though she was nearing either her deadline or her word count limit and had to find a way to finish off the book quickly. All in all, I enjoyed reading the book, but was dissatisfied with the ending.
     (A note to readers about the sexuality in this book: Constantine seems overly interested in the sex lives of her characters, and goes out of her way to give us details about their pasts that are not necessary to the advancment of the plot. Her motive seems to be shock value, rather than humanizing her characters. She goes so far as to include an incestuous brother/sister relationship that is condoned and encouraged by the wife of the brother. While I'm all in favor of a good sex scene here and there, I find this repugnant, especially as it plays no real part in the story.)   §

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